Routine 'Funny Girl' disappoints

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT), Chesley Plemmons Theater Critic

Published
1:00 am EDT, Friday, April 10, 2009

I'm hopeful that the flat, forced production of "Funny Girl" at the Westchester Broadway Theatre in Elmsford, N.Y., is just a fluke and not a sign the popular dinner theater is downgrading its standards.

Economics can be blamed for much, witness the theater's recent skimpy, dismal "Meshuggah-Nuns" and the small-scale reviews "Bee Hive" and "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" on the upcoming schedule. But that can't explain the uninspired casting and directing by

"Funny Girl" was never a great musical, but
Barbra Streisand
was great in it. A sketchy backstage story of the life and loves of comedian
Fanny Brice
, the show had music by the venerable Jule Style, who had previously supplied a superior score for "Gypsy," another behind the footlights drama. There were two or three good songs, "People," "Don't Rain on My Parade" and "I'd Rather Be Blue," but the original success of the show was due, for the most part, to the talents of the young Streisand, who was herself an ugly duckling who knew how to "make funny' in order to get attention. And she had a voice like few others.

The key to the problem with "Funny Girl" lies there. Fanny Brice was a comedian, not a singer -- but Streisand wowed audiences and critics and established the show as a singer's show.

So now productions of the show seem obsessed with trying to recreate the Streisand magic, which generally calls for vocal imitation at best.

Jill Abramovitz
has the role in this production and it's clear she was cast for her powerful voice. She can belt out the songs with ease, but her voice hasn't the nuances that Streisand produced.

Abramovitz is a hard worker and she tries to be funny, but the script is not all that helpful -- a few comic setups and a lot of ugly duckling jokes. You can always see Abramovitz, the actress, peering out of Fanny's eyes and it's unfortunate the director couldn't help her put a personal stamp on the role.

The men in the cast come off better than the ladies.
Grant Norman
plays
Nick Arnstein
, a gambler who wins Fanny's heart but can't find an honest job. Norman has a solid voice and displays more than enough suave charm to understand why the lady flips over him. If anything, he's a bit too clean cut and waspy looking for the role.

Also on the plus side is
Kilty Reidy
, who gives a warm touch to the part of
Eddie Ryan
, a backstage friend and on stage hoofer who loves Fanny through thick and thin. He's a nimble dancer as well.
Gary Leimkuhler
is impressive in the small but important role of famed producer Florenz Ziegfeld.

Louisa Flaningam plays Fanny's mother, Mrs. Brice, and
Karen Patricia McDonald
has the part of Mrs. Strakosh, a family friend and neighbor. Both are stuck with phony looking wigs that would be pegged as fake from 50 feet, and they give broad, broad performances that tilt the show away from believability and toward caricature.

Dawn Newman, however, does contributes a sympathetic, believable turn as Emma, Brice's dresser, maid and confidante.

Costumes, "coordinated" by
Matthew Hemesath
, are colorful and in the Follies' numbers quite lavish. They successfully catch the period's style, but
Steven Loftus
' sets are spare and repetitive.

As usual, this theater has rounded up an able ensemble of attractive performers who cleverly double up on roles and also invest plenty of spirit in
Michael Susko
's limited choreography.

As long as I'm carping, the orchestra often sounded unpleasantly brassy.

Those who love "Funny Girl" with or without Streisand, probably won't be disappointed. What would be interesting would be a director willing to take a chance casting an actress first and a singer second as Fanny. Her numbers don't really have to be power driven -- just heartfelt.